KALISPELL – Two people accused of being involved in an internet scam have been arrested in Flathead County.
The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office reports that with the help of the FBI's Montana Regional Violent Offenders Task Force, Sukhdev Vaid, of Karnal, India, and Eddly Joseph, of Pompano Beach, Florida were arrested in Flathead County.
The pair were charged earlier this month in Montana District Court with felony counts of Theft, Attempted Theft and Accountability.
According to a news release, law enforcement was notified by a Flathead County woman, who had been contacted by someone on the internet “claiming to help her with an intrusion into her internet banking accounts.”
Authorities discovered she was possibly the victim of an internet scam involving her bank accounts and personal computer.
The victim had been advised to take out a substantial amount of cash from her accounts and meet with a male to give him the cash.
Following the first transaction, the victim was re-contacted by the suspects to conduct another transaction, which was intercepted by authorities.
Law enforcement was able to find and arrest the two men when they returned to Flathead County to get more cash, the release states.
Both men were charged with the crimes by the Flathead County Attorney’s Office and have been booked into the Flathead County Detention Center.
The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office advises the following:
“Law enforcement would like to remind citizens not to answer or correspond with individuals over the internet who claim to need money for help with bank accounts. Persons oftentimes are notified by “pop up” type notifications that appear to be from valid software companies, such as Windows or Google, suggesting virus or intrusion issues. These individuals oftentimes originate from outside the United States and will try to get cash, gift cards, bank transfers or other money transfers to them. It is very difficult and almost always impossible to recover the lost money given to these persons.”
